A frequent theme in Chris’s reporting on the Republican War on Science has been the dissent of rank and file “empirical professionals” against politically motivated activities of the people they report to (often Republican political appointees). Something like this appears to be happening with the large consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which recently published a study finding that, “once fully implemented, the health care reform law will drive huge numbers of employers to drop or dramatically restructure their companies’ health care benefits.” The study “was devised by consultants without particular expertise in this area, not by the firm’s health experts,” reports TPMDC, which has gotten multiple sources to comment on the study:

Multiple sources both within and outside the firm tell TPM the survey was not conducted using McKinsey’s typical, meticulous methodology. Indeed, the article the firm published was not intended to give the subject matter the same authoritative treatment as more thorough studies on the same topic — particularly those conducted by numerous think tanks, and the Congressional Budget Office, which came to the opposite conclusion. And that’s created a clamor within the firm at high levels to set the record straight.

“This particular survey wasn’t designed in away that would allow it to be peer review published or cited academically,” said one source familiar with the controversy…

Another keyed-in source says McKinsey is unlikely to release [the study’s] survey materials because “it would be damaging to them.”

“The main reason costs to the state have been well within expectations? More than half of all the previously uninsured got coverage by buying into their employers’ plans, not by opting for one of the state-subsidized plans.”